Cola beverage composition and method of making

ABSTRACT

A dry powder composition which is suitable for blending with heated water to form a hot cola beverage consisting essentially of from 1.40 to 2.34 weight percent of a spray dried cola flavoring, from 0.18 to 0.56 weight percent of vanilla powder, from 0.37 to 1.13 weight percent of anhydrous citric acid, from 2.62 to 4.36 weight percent of powdered caramel color, and from 85 to 95.4 weight percent of sucrose. The components of the powder composition are mixed together in dry form in a conventional blender whereby the usual granulation step, including the evaporation of water or water and alcohol, is eliminated.

United States Patent Inventors Appl. No.

Filed Patented Assignee COLA BEVERAGE COMPOSITION AND METHOD OF MAKING 4Claims, No Drawings U.S. Cl 99/78, 99/28 Int. Cl..... A23] 1/00 [50]Field of Search 99/78, I40, 199, 28

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,525,626 8/1970 Swaine etal 99/78 Primary ExaminerMorris O. Wolk Assistant Examiner-SidneyMarantz AttorneySeidel, Gonda & Goldhammer ABSTRACT: A dry powdercomposition which is suitable for blending with heated water to form ahot cola beverage consisting essentially of from 1.40 to 2.34 weightpercent of a spray dried cola flavoring, from 0.18 to 0.56 weightpercent of vanilla powder, from 0.37 to 1.13 weight percent of anhydrouscitric acid, from 2.62 to 4.36 weight percent of powdered caramel color,and from 85 to 95.4 weight percent of sucrose. The components of thepowder composition are mixed together in dry form in a conventionalblender whereby the usual granulation step, including the evaporation ofwater or water and alcohol, is eliminated.

COLA BEVERAGE COMPOSITION AND METHOD OF MAKING This application is acontinuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No. 471,730, filedJuly 13, 1965, now US. Pat. No. 3,525,626 issued Aug. 25, 1970 for aCola Beverage Composition" assigned to the same assignee as the presentinvention.

This invention is directed to an improved cola beverage composition, andmore particularly to a cola beverage composition which may be servedhot. The invention is o directed to an improved method of making a colabeverage composition.

There are a limited number of hot beverages, namely coffee, tea, cocoa,and soups. Most commonly, neither coffee nor tea are served to children.Rather, these beverages are gradually adopted, and their tastes leamedduring the period between 13 and 20 years of age.

Unlike coffee or tea, cola-flavored carbonated beverages are inprevalent use with subteen children. Notwithstanding this, there hasnever been a successful cola-flavored hot beverage, which would permitchildren to make the transition from a cola-flavored carbonated coldbeverage to a hot beverage, which is analogous to coffee or tea. Thistransition, if possible, would obviate the necessity for learning" thetaste of coffee or tea.

The reason for the absence of a stationary cola-flavored hot beverage isthat the cola flavor is thermally unstable. Thus, the components makingup the typical cola flavoring used in carbonated drinks tend to distilloff and/or decompose when heated. As a result, the typical cola-flavoredcarbonated beverage is unpalatable, when heated.

This invention has as an object the provision of a novel cola beveragecomposition.

This invention has another object the provision of a novel cola beveragecomposition, which may be stored in a dry powdered form, and which maybe admixed with heated water to yield a palatable hot beverage.

The above referred to copending application, Ser. No. 471,730 achievedthese objects by mixing a liquid cola flavoring with vanilla powder,extract of kola NF, sucrose, and hydrated citric acid. The components ofthat invention were mixed in a dry blender at room temperature. It wasfound, however, that moisture was deleterious to the composition for tworeasons, namely it lead to caking, and it also tended to degrade thecola flavor. Therefore, since the cola flavoring was added in liquidform, it was necessary to dry the mixture in a forced air oven, such asby passing air at a temperature of 140 F. over the powder for a periodof 1 hour. After this initial drying, the composition was granulated,and then dried for another one-half hour to be sure that all moisturehad been removed.

It will be appreciated that the drying and granulation of thecomposition of the copending application constituted an expensive andtime-consuming segment in the manufacture of the composition.

Therefore, it is a further object of the present invention to provide asimplified method of making a dry powdered cola composition, whereby thesteps of drying and granulating the composition are eliminated.

The foregoing objects are achieved by the composition of the presentinvention which comprises a spray dried cola flavoring, vanilla powder,anhydrous citric acid, powdered caramel color, and ucrose. Thecomposition of the present invention is in the form a dry powder whichmay be stored for protracted periods of time in sealed containerswithout loss of flavor. The user adds approximately 8 grams for a 6ounceserving or 1 1 grams for an 8-ounce serving to hot water, and stirs. Theresulting hot cola beverage has a delightful flavor and odor.

A cola flavor, by definition, is a complex flavoring mixture that has init certain citrus characteristics, such as lemon and lime. in addition,the flavor has definite herby characteristics that are supplied by kolanuts or other botanicals, together with spicy characteristics which arenormally supplied by cassia and clove. Finally, there must be somecaffeine present to meet the standards of a cola. The caffeine may bepresent in a very small amount, but is must be there. Characteristic ofa cola flavor is the difflculty in picking out any one note, say cassiaor lemon or lime. instead, the consumer perceives a complex impressionwhich he calls cola." A typical liquid cola flavoring is set forth atpage 264 of Food Flavorings by Joseph Merory (Avi Publishing Company,1960) as MP 212, and is more fully described in the aforementionedcopending application.

Now that spray-dried cola flavors have become N.Y. available, we havefound that the use of such spray dried flavors instead of liquid colaflavoring can substantially simplify the process of making dry powderedcola compositions. The spray dried cola flavors used in compositions ofthis invention should be present in the amount of from 1.40 to 2.34weight percent, and preferably about 1.87 weight percent. A particularlysuccessful, commercially available spray-dried cola flavor is producedby Polaks Frutal Works, Middletown, N.Y. Other suitable spray-dry colaflavors are available from lnternational Flavors and Fragrances,Fritzsche, Dodge and Olcott, and Givaudan Corporation.

The vanilla powder used in the compositions of our invention constitutesthe vanilla powder as defined in 21 CPR. Section 22.8, as amended, 28FR. 9983, effective Dec. 12, 1962. A suitable commercial form of thevanilla powder is available from Food Materials Corporation (No. 5411).The vanilla powder should be present in the concentration of from 0.18to 0.56 weight percent, with an optimum concentration of 0.37 weightpercent.

The anhydrous citric acid should be present in the amount of 0.37 to1.13 weight percent, and preferably about 0.75 percent.

The sucrose should be present in a range of from to 95.4 weight percentwith an optimum concentration of about 93 .52 weight percent.

In addition, the composition should be colored with a powdered caramelcolor, which should be present in the amount of from 2.62 weight percentto 4.36 weight percent, and preferably about 3.49 weight percent.

The compositions of the present invention are prepared by mixing theabove ingredients together at room temperature in a conventional dryblender, such as a ribbon or V-type mixer. Since all of the componentsof the composition are in dry form, an obvious advantage of usingspray-dried cola flavors is that it is unnecessary to evaporate water orwater and alcohol from a granulation procedure. Other drying steps aresimilarly obviated. The only critical requirement of the method is thatthe components be mixed in a relatively dry atmosphere, in order toavoid any undesirable caking which might result from mixing under highlyhumid conditions.

Due to the elimination of the granulation step each of the components ofthe composition is present in separate particles throughout the mixture,instead of each particle having a mix ture of the components. Therefore,it might be expected that separation problems might result fromvariation of the component particle sizes. While the relative particlesizes do not appear to be especially critical, a suitable distributionof the particle sizes of the various components is given in table 1.Other suitable particle distributions, consistent with minimumseparation of the components, will be readily determinable by oneskilled in the art.

TABLE I Particle size distribution of components (weight percent) U.S.Standard Slaves Sugar Citric Vanilla Cola Caramel Larger than 30 mesh 1.20 l). 42 Through 30 on 40 20. 20 28. 40 0. O6 0. 60 Through 40 on 6043. 66 47. 00 6. 32 0. O6 0. Through 60 on 80. 15. 86 14. 2O 7. 40 1. 0O0. 98 Through 80 on 100- l). 44 7. 80 J. 64 1. 58 .2. 40 Through 100 on200. 4. 70 1. 80 26. 28 15. 20 46. 00 Through 200 0. 40 0. 20 45. 58 81.6O 47. 20 Dust (or lost) 4. 90 0. 60 4. 72 0. 56 1. 51)

Total 100. 00 100. 00 100. 00 100 00 100. 00

TABLE II Hot cola beverage formula variations (Weight percent) Examplenumbers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Sucrose 93. 04 93. 24 95. 93. 16 93. 88 93. 7594. 22 92. 81 Caramel color 3. 48 3. 48 2. 69 3. 48 3. 50 3. 50 2. 77 4.22 Citric acid 0. 75 1. 0. 58 0. 75 0. 75 D. 76 0. 76 0. 74 Vanillapowder- 0. 6O 0. 37 0.29 0. 37 0. 37 0. 50 0. 37 0. 3? Spray dried cola2. 1. 86 1. 44 2. 24 1. 50 1. 50 1.88 1. 86

Total 100. 00 100.00

In order to illustrate the compositions of the present invention,examples 1-8 are set forth in table ll above. Each of the compositionsin the examples, when added to hot water, yields a palatable hot colabeverage having a pronounced cola and citrus flavor and odor.

The present invention may be embodied in other specific fonns withoutdeparting from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and,accordingly, reference should be made to the appended claims, ratherthan to the foregoing specification as indicating the scope of theinvention.

We claim:

1. A method of making a dry powder composition suitable for blendingwith heated water to form a hot cola beverage comprising the steps ofproviding a spray dried cola flavoring. vanilla powder, anhydrous citricacid, powdered caramel color, and sucrose in dry form and mixing the drymaterial in a relatively dry atmosphere.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the dry materials are mixed ina dryblender.

3. A method of making a dry powder composition according to claim 3wherein said spray dried cola flavoring is provided in an amount of fromL40 to 2.34 weight percent, said vanilla powder is provided in an amountof from 0.18 to 0.56 weight percent, said anhydrous citric acid isprovided in an amount of from 0.37 to 1.13 weight percent, said powderedcaramel color is provided in an amount from 2.62 to 4.36 weight percent,and said sucrose is provided in an amount from to 95.4 weight percent,said weight percents being based on the total weight of the dry powdercomposition.

4. A method of making a dry powder composition according to claim 3wherein said spray dried cola flavoring is provided in an amount ofabout 1.87 weight percent, said vanilla powder is provided in an amountof about 0.37 weight percent, said anhydrous citric acid is provided inan amount of about 0.75 weight percent, said powdered caramel color isprovided in an amount of about 3.49 weight percent, and said sucrose isprovided in an amount of about 93.52 weight percent.

2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the dry materials are mixed ina dry blender.
 3. A method of making a dry powder composition accordingto claim 3 wherein said spray dried cola flavoring is provided in anamount of from 1.40 to 2.34 weight percent, said vanilla powder isprovided in an amount of from 0.18 to 0.56 weight percent, saidanhydrous citric acid is provided in an amount of from 0.37 to 1.13weight percent, said powdered caramel color is provided in an amountfrom 2.62 to 4.36 weight percent, and said sucrose is provided in anamount from 85 to 95.4 weight percent, said weight percents being basedon the total weight of the dry powder composition.
 4. A method of makinga dry powder composition according to claim 3 wherein said spray driedcola flavoring is provided in an amount of about 1.87 weight percent,said vanilla powder is provided in an amount of about 0.37 weightpercent, said anhydrous citric acid is provided in an amount of about0.75 weight percent, said powdered caramel color is provided in anamount of about 3.49 weight percent, and said sucrose is provided in anamount of about 93.52 weight percent.